Carbon fluxes in the Arctic Ocean—potential impact by climate change

Because of its ice cover the central Arctic Ocean has not been considered as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide. With recent observations of decreasing ice cover there is the potential for an increased air–sea carbon dioxide flux. Though the sensitivity of the carbon fluxes to a climate change can at present only be speculated, we know the responses to some of the forcing, including: melting of the sea ice cover make the air–sea flux operate towards equilibrium; increased temperature of the surface water will decrease the solubility and thus the air-sea flux; and an open ocean might increase primary production through better utilization of the nutrients.
The potential change in air-sea CO₂ fluxes caused by different forcing as a result of climate change is quantified based on measured data. If the sea ice melts, the top 100 m water column of the Eurasian Basin has, with the present conditions, a potential to take up close to 50 g C m⁻². The freshening of the surface water caused by a sea ice melt will increase the CO₂ solubility corresponding to an uptake of ∼ g C m⁻², while a temperature increase of 1°C in the same waters will out-gas 8 g C m⁻², and a utilization of all phosphate will increase primary production by 75 g C m⁻².     

Three‐dimensional inversion of towed streamer electromagnetic data

A towed streamer electromagnetic system capable of simultaneous seismic and electromagnetic data acquisition has recently been developed and tested in the North Sea. We introduce a 3D inversion methodology for towed streamer electromagnetic data that includes a moving sensitivity domain. Our implementation is based on the 3D integral equation method for computing responses and Fréchet derivatives and uses the re‐weighted regularized conjugate gradient method for minimizing the objective functional with focusing regularization. We present two model studies relevant to hydrocarbon exploration in the North Sea. First, we demonstrate the ability of a towed electromagnetic system to detect and characterize the Harding field, a medium‐sized North Sea hydrocarbon target. We compare our 3D inversion of towed streamer electromagnetic data with 3D inversion of conventional marine controlled‐source electromagnetic data and observe few differences between the recovered models. Second, we demonstrate the ability of a towed streamer electromagnetic system to detect and characterize the Peon discovery, which is representative of an infrastructure‐led shallow gas play in the North Sea. We also present an actual case study for the 3D inversion of towed streamer electromagnetic data from the Troll field in the North Sea and demonstrate our ability to image all the Troll West Oil and Gas Provinces and the Troll East Gas Province. We conclude that 3D inversion of data from the current generation of towed streamer electromagnetic systems can adequately recover hydrocarbon‐bearing formations to depths of approximately 2 km. We note that by obviating the need for ocean‐bottom receivers, the towed streamer electromagnetic system enables electromagnetic data to be acquired over very large areas in frontier and mature basins for higher acquisition rates and relatively lower cost than conventional marine controlled‐source electromagnetic methods.     

Geochemistry of Caledonian metabasalts from some Norwegian ophiolite fragments

Major and trace element analyses of metabasalts from five of the Lower Palaeozoic Caledonian ophiolite fragments along a strike distance of some 800 km of the west Norwegian coast are presented. Characteristically the REE patterns show depletion of both LREE and HREE relative to intermediate REE, giving an upward convex shape, but nearly flat, LREE depleted or enriched patterns occur. The REE patterns of the metabasalts from three of these sequences, i.e. the Lykling, Solund and Stavfjorden ophiolite fragments show little within-sequence but large between-sequence variation. The REE patterns of the metabasalts from the Gullfjellet (Major Bergen Arc) and Skålvær ophiolite fragments, however, show significant within-sequence variations, indicative of local source heterogeneties.When incompatible trace elements such as Ta, Nb, Ce, P, Zr, Hf, Sm, Ti, Y and Yb are normalized against average MORB, the metabasalts can be subdivided into two major groups. One group, geographically comprising the ophiolite fragments north of Bergen (i.e. Solund, Stavfjorden og Skålvær) show trace element ratios similar to average MORB, whereas the other group, defined by the Gullfjellet and Lykling ophiolite fragments (from Bergen southwards) differ significantly with respect to Yb/Y, Ti/Y and Nb/Ce ratios. These features are discussed in terms of trace element patterns in basalts from oceanic islands, island arcs and back-arc basins, and it is tentatively concluded that they reflect partial melts from a mid-oceanic mantle, or probably a back-arc basin mantle, which differed chemically from that of the northwestern Norwegian ophiolite fragments.     

Formation of sapphirine during retrogression of a basic high-pressure granulite,Roan, Western Gneiss Region,Norway

Sapphirine-bearing rocks occur in the northern part of the Western Gneiss Region, Vestranden, central Norway. The sapphirine-bearing rocks are characterized by a high MgO/(MgO + FeO) ratio, high Al₂O₃, MgO and CaO, and low SiO₂ contents. These rocks form layers within larger complexes which originated as layered magmatic rocks. High PT-metamorphism produced a cpx+ky+gt assemblage. The P and T estimates are P = 14.5±2 kbar and T= 870±50° C. During retrogression, the high-P granulite assemblage broke down to form an intermediate-P granulite mineralogy comprising orthopyroxene, spinel, anorthite, andesine, sapphirine and corundum. Textural relationships suggest that sapphirine formed by the reaction: spinel+kyanite sapphirine+corundum, and probably also by a reaction between corundum, spinel and orthopyroxene. All reactions took place within the stability field of kyanite. Textural and micro-chemical relationships indicate equilibrium, conditions during the peak metamorphism, whereas pronounced disequilibrium characterizes the mineral associations formed during the early retrogression at low P _H2O. The investigation shows that parts of the northern segment of the Western Gneiss Region underwent a metamorphic evolution similar to the Caledonian one recorded from eclogite/granulite terrains further south.     

Redox Processes in Groundwater Impacted by Landfill Leachate

Groundwater downgradient from Trandum municipallandfill was investigated in summer 1996, with a viewto assessing the distribution of redox-sensitivespecies. The water table at Trandum is 10–26 metersbelow the surface. Monitoring well filters have beeninstalled at depths of up to 15 m below water table,covering an area of 400 m by 200 m. Groundwaterinfluenced by the landfill seems to be confined tothis area. Pristine groundwater has a chemicalsignature indicative of calcite and pyrite weathering.Groundwater influenced by leachate from the landfillexhibits an excess of alkalinity relative to calcium,which is likely to be derived from degradation oforganic matter in the landfill. Groundwaterimmediately below and downstream of the landfillcontains elevated concentrations of Fe and Mn, largelymobilized under reducing conditions from the aquifermatrix and reflected in depleted HNO₃-extractable Feand Mn in sediment samples from the same area.Groundwater samples allow the tentative identificationof redox zones based on oxidized and reduced forms ofFe, Mn, N and S. A methanogenic zone is notobserved.     

Quantized Redshifts of Galaxies: Stimulated Raman Scattering in Cold Intergalactic Rydberg Matter

That the redshifts for galaxies in the local supercluster are quantizedwas recently confirmedby Guthrie and Napier(A&Amp;Amp;A310 (1996) 353). These redshifts are here proposed to be due to stimulatedStokes Raman processes in intergalactic matter in the form of Rydberg Matter (RM). Rydberg Matteris an electronically excited material, as demonstrated by its use as laser medium in a thermally excitedultra-broadband tunable IR laser (Chem. Phys. Lett. 376 (2003) 812). Its existence in interstellar andintergalactic space is demonstrated by several observational results, notably the unidentified IR bands,that agree well with the emission from Rydberg Matter. A stimulated Raman process will allow theH I 21 cm radiation to proceed without deflection, in agreement with observation. Such redshiftswill be additive during the passage through space. The process in Rydberg Matter here proposed togive rise to the Stokes Raman process is excitation of electronic translational modes in the planarclusters forming the matter. The specific cluster sizes found in laboratory experiments give rise toa few differently sized redshift quanta, which is in good agreement with the observed quanta. Anexcitation level (principal quantum number) of Rydberg Matter in intergalactic space between 175and 200 gives the correct size of the redshift quanta.     

Ecological tree line history and palaeoclimate – review of megafossil evidence from the Swedish Scandes

The postglacial tree line and climate history in the Swedish Scandes have been inferred from megafossil tree remains. Investigated species are mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and grey alder (Alnus incana). Betula and Pinus first appeared on early deglaciated nunataks during the Lateglacial. Their tree lines peaked between 9600 and 9000 cal. a BP, almost 600 m higher than present‐day elevations. This implies (adjusted for land uplift) that early Holocene summer temperatures may have been 2.3°C above modern ones. Elevational tree line retreat characterized the Holocene tree line evolution. For short periods, excursions from this trend have occurred. Between c. 12 000 and 10 000 cal. a BP, a pine‐dominated subalpine belt prevailed. A first major episode of descent occurred c. 8200 cal. a BP, possibly forced by cooling and an associated shift to a deeper and more persistent snow pack. Thereafter, the subalpine birch forest belt gradually evolved at the expense of the prior pine‐dominated tree line ecotone. A second episode of pine descent took place c. 4800 cal. a BP. Historical tree line positions are viewed in relation to early 21st century equivalents, and indicate that tree line elevations attained during the past century and in association with modern climate warming are highly unusual, but not unique, phenomena from the perspective of the past 4800 years. Prior to that, the pine tree line (and summer temperatures) was consistently higher than present, as it was also during the Roman and Medieval periods, c. 1900 and 1000 cal. a BP, respectively.     

The recession of the Inland Ice margin during the Holocene climatic optimum in the Jakobshavn Isfjord area of West Greenland

Recent subsurface mapping of parts of the Greenland Inland Ice margin in the region of Jakobshavn Isbræ indicates that the fjord system in the period of at least 2700–4700 calendar yr B.P. was more ice free than at present, and that the front of the glacier was at least 15 km behind the present position. The ¹⁴C-dating of subfossils brought to the present ice margin fit with the climatic records from ice cores and confirm the favourable conditions for Greenland's first settlers, the Sarqaq people, who arrived in the region about 400 yr ago to find hunting grounds 10–20% larger than the present.     

Configuration,history and impact of the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream

The Norwegian Channel between Skagerrak, in the southeast, and the continental margin of the northern North Sea, in the northwest, is the result of processes related to repeated ice stream activity through the last 1.1 m yr. In such periods the Skagerrak Trough (700 m deep) has acted as a confluence area for glacial ice from southeastern Norway, southern Sweden and parts of the Baltic. Possibly related to the threshold in the Norwegian Channel off Jæren (250 m deep), the ice stream, on a number of occasions over the last 400 ka, inundated the coastal lowlands and left an imprint of NW‐oriented ice directional features (drumlins, stone orientations in tills and striations). Marine interstadial sediments found up to 200 m a.s.l. on Jæren have been suggested to reflect glacial isostasy related to the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream (NCIS). In the channel itself, the ice stream activity is evidenced by mega‐scale glacial lineations on till surfaces. As a result of subsidence, the most complete sedimentary records of early phases of the NCIS are preserved close to the continental margin in the North Sea Fan region. The strongest evidence for ice stream erosion during the last glacial phase is found in the Skagerrak. On the continental slope the ice stream activity is evidenced by the large North Sea Fan, which is mainly a result of deposition of glacial‐fed debris flows. Northwards of the North Sea Fan, rapid deposition of meltwater plume deposits, possibly related to the NCIS, is detected as far north as the Vøring Plateau. The NCIS system offers a unique possibility to study ice stream related processes and the impact the ice stream development had on open ocean sedimentation and circulation.